City ready to battle for first ALW win against Western

Melbourne City has never won a competitive ALW fixture against Western United but Michael Matricciani believes his side has what it takes to impose themselves on Friday evening's game and change that.

Given the legacy of sustained success they’ve fashioned in the A-League Women, it’s not all that often that Melbourne City gets to celebrate a first these days. An opportunity to do so, however, awaits on Friday evening in Tarneit, where the defending premiers will get another chance to register a maiden competitive win against Western United.

A particular point of pride for the expansion side, especially given that many members of their inaugural squad were drawn from right under City’s noses in the local NPLW Victoria competition, United has had the wood over their southeastern rivals ever since they entered as an expansion side in 2022-23, winning three of the four games they’ve played and scoring twice as many goals as their rivals.

They went two for two in their first year in the competition, winning 3-1 in the inaugural meeting between the two sides thanks to a Chloe Logarzo brace and then taking the return fixture 2-1 on their way to a grand final appearance. The subsequent season, an 86th-minute equaliser from Khali Johnson would deny City a first win in the campaign's first meeting, before two goals from American striker Hannah Keane ensured that the side in green and black would cruise to a 3-1 win two months later.

When combined with their polarising win-loss form in recent weeks pointing to three points on Friday, it could perhaps be seen as something of an omen. But United had a similar record against Melbourne Victory heading into this season, too, and that did little to stop an Emily Gielnik-powered Vuck running all over them on the way to a 4-1 win at the Home of the Matildas earlier in the season. Now, it is the turn of City boss Michael Matricciani, coaching against United for the first time after taking over for now-Brighton boss Dario Vidošić in the offseason, to plot a turnaround of his own.

“I think they're very solid,” said the City boss. “They're hard to break down. They had a couple of bad moments from which they conceded a fair few goals over a couple of weeks. But if you take that aside, they're a very hard team to break down.

“Their defensive shape is excellent. They're a physical team, where they make some really good forward runs from either their 10 or second striker. So they rotate that very well. And I think they're great at getting wide and getting crosses into the box.

“So these are the areas that we need to be aware of, that we've trained and shown our playing group. If we can nullify that and play our style and impose ourselves on the match, then you know, we'll go a long way to getting the three points.”

Though United can’t call upon the imposing presence of players such as Keane or Sydney Cummings this season, the physicality and effort referenced by Matricciani have been one of the hallmarks of this side since it entered the league, enabling them to elbow their way to a place alongside the league’s existing powers.

Traditionally, this is a side that has not taken a backward step, admiringly described by rival coaches as doing the dirty work that wins football matches and enjoying doing so. Indeed, one of the more striking features of their 8-2 loss to Brisbane last month, beyond the at-times near irresistible force Alex Smith’s side was in attack, was the jarring contrast of this spirit almost being completely absent.

But with a derby on tap and another opportunity to get one over on their high-flying rivals now here, to say nothing of the importance that three points would hold for a United side currently sitting outside the top six, Matricciani and City cannot count on another similar letdown this time around. But the City coach believes his side is ready for that.

“One of the big things that we've been doing since day one of preseason is our pressing techniques, how we use our body, how we use our forearms, and how we're aggressive in our duals,” he said.

“That's one of the internal metrics that the playing group helps drive in, how we're winning our aerial and ground duals, which we've been very successful at this year. So if it becomes a bit of a scrap, and there is a bit of a fight, then we're definitely up for that as well.”

City will be without the services of Matildas flanker Bryleeh Henry for the second straight game on Friday evening as she continues her recovery from a delayed concussion suffered during their draw with Sydney FC. All other members of the squad were deemed fit by Matricciani, including Holly McNamara, who he said was capable of playing 60 minutes if called upon.

Should she take the field, it will also mark the 100th A-League Women appearance for veteran defender Tyla-Jay Vlajnic. The 34-year-old Serbian international and Victorian football stalwart has logged stints at both City and United, winning two premiers plates and four championships as part of the former’s dominant pre-COVID sides.